Vladimir Tarasenko (NHL) Discussion Thread (IV)

I'm glad if I'm wrong about Hitch. I have never stated that he is a bad coach. Simply I was wondering about style that his teams play. I have never stated that "Hitch doesn't like Russians". Where did you take it from?
Imagine, if Malkin, Giroux or Stamkos had played in Hitch's Columbus, would they have been able to put up the same numbers?
And I'm pretty sure that Nash would have scored more had he played in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.
Yes, I cannot say that I'm very familiar with the Blues. But now I think I'll have to follow the Blues more closely.

I'm glad if I'm wrong about Hitch. I have never stated that he is a bad coach. Simply I was wondering about style that his teams play. I have never stated that "Hitch doesn't like Russians". Where did you take it from?
Imagine, if Malkin, Giroux or Stamkos had played in Hitch's Columbus, would they have been able to put up the same numbers?
And I'm pretty sure that Nash would have scored more had he played in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.
Yes, I cannot say that I'm very familiar with the Blues. But now I think I'll have to follow the Blues more closely.

Individual forwards putting up great individual scoring numbers isn't always preferable to their individual +/- stats or team +/- stats or team wins/losses. It's a team game. Brett Hull's lower scoring stats at Dallas during their Stanley Cup Championship season may have been preferable to his higher scoring stats had he instead played that year the way he had played previously, with The Blues.

Individual forwards putting up great individual scoring numbers isn't always preferable to their individual +/- stats or team +/- stats or team wins/losses. It's a team game. Brett Hull's lower scoring stats at Dallas during their Stanley Cup Championship season may have been preferable to his higher scoring stats had he instead played that year the way he had played previously, with The Blues.

Yeah, but the problem is when you sign your new big money contract, those moneybags look at your statistics first...

I'm glad if I'm wrong about Hitch. I have never stated that he is a bad coach. Simply I was wondering about style that his teams play. I have never stated that "Hitch doesn't like Russians". Where did you take it from?Imagine, if Malkin, Giroux or Stamkos had played in Hitch's Columbus, would they have been able to put up the same numbers?
And I'm pretty sure that Nash would have scored more had he played in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.
Yes, I cannot say that I'm very familiar with the Blues. But now I think I'll have to follow the Blues more closely.

No, because their supporting cast would not have been nearly as strong as it is on their current team.

Tarasenko may not be as good a natural scorer as Hull. But I'm beting on him being a better all-around player and leader than Hull. I'm hoping he'll eventually replace Hull as the player icon of The Blues.

Tarasenko may not be as good a natural scorer as Hull. But I'm beting on him being a better all-around player and leader than Hull. I'm hoping he'll eventually replace Hull as the player icon of The Blues.

Unless he's derailed by injuries, I think Pietrangelo has what it takes to be a legend for the Blues.

Pietrangelo is undoubtedly the heart of this team, there are maybe 12 players in the League that you can compare to his talent level. Tarasenko will hopefully come close to that talent level, but I think it is safe to assume he'll be getting a lot more headlines in the short term.

His immediate impact could be just like Pietrangelo's in his rookie season. Both of them had the talent to play in the NHL earlier, but wanted to make sure they were completely ready to make an impact. The NHL and NHLPA need to get their **** together because, McDonald-Steen-Tarasenko will light the scoreboard up. I could only imagine what they'd be able to play a full 82 season together.

I only really seen the second and half of the third today, and it wasn't pretty from the SKA point of view. Tarasenko was up on their main PP unit for the game, but they never really got anything at all going (from the second onwards at least).